An image processing apparatus is known in which an image is processed such that pixels having the degree of depth of near view are relatively conspicuous compared to pixels having the degree of depth of distant view, thereby improving the sense of depth or stereoscopic effect of the image.
However, in the related art, there is a problem in that the resultant image is unnatural. In capturing an image by a camera, light reaches a sensor through a lens. When a human being observes something, light reaches the retina through the cornea or crystalline lens serving as a lens. Thus, the most conspicuous portion in an image captured by a camera or an image observed through eyes of a human being is not necessarily the near view. That is, a conspicuous area of an image, which has been processed in the related art such that a near view portion therein is more conspicuous than the other portion, is different from that of an image, which is obtained when a camera is focused on a certain portion or is observed when a human being watches a certain portion. Therefore, such an image is unnatural.